There seems to be a great deal of mystery and consternation concerning where all the Trump support is coming from. To be clear, I’m biased against Trump. I’m comfortable categorically dismissing absolutely everything he stands for. But in the past few weeks, my Facebook feed has lit up with Trump support from quarters that I never expected. So, in the interest of fighting ignorance, I’m just going to throw a few profiles out here. These are actual people, with the names changed.
1: My eldest first cousin. He comes from a lower-middle class household. It was kind of a rough environment, his father died in his teens. He had a wild ungoverned youth, raised by our grandparents as best they could. He believes that Trump will stabilize the economy. He believes that Trump will also stabilize international conflicts by showing (and presumably) committing military strength to the problem. Although, he also believes that the US should avoid excessive foreign entanglements. I’m not going to tease this out any further.
2: My best friend’s wife. She’s a sorority gal from a southern university. My first enduring memory of her is when we were sitting around the apartment watching basketball. They cut to a black player for an interview, and she started mocking the way he talked. If there’s a word for blackface in speech, that’s what she was doing. She now runs a cannabis-oil pyramid scheme and is an enthusiatic supporter of both Trump and pot legalization.
3: Husband of a good friend. Interesting side note… his daughter is the subject of an internet meme that you would recognize instantly. He identifies as libertarian. I don’t know if it’s capital L or lowercase ‘ell’ and I don’t care. He seems like an OK dude, an economic pragmatist and social liberal. He’ll tell you he has friends of different races. Then he retransmits a horrifyingly racist and confrontational Pepe meme on Columbus Day, leaving no doubt that it’s intended to rile up the “offenderati”.
4: Girl I knew in high school who is now an elementary-school teacher. Because I suspect this informs her worldview, I will state she’s an exceptionally attractive and intelligent white woman who could have been a Miss Universe (but was not, to my knowledge). She has a mental deathgrip on anything that derides Obama or Hillary. She posted a thorough treatment of why she can live with Trump’s unfortunate comments about seducing married women, with no recognition that Trump would be happy to seduce her by popping a tic-tac, giving her a kiss, and grabbing her pussy if he felt like it. (You don’t need a cite, you already know he said this).
5: Several upper-class women from China who have immigrated to the US and married American men. Some of them lived through the Cultural Revolution. Some have seen their entrepreneurial parents stifled and manipulated by the Chinese communist parties. They believe that Trump represents the opposite of the bad things they experienced, and they are severely allergic to anything that sounds like socialism.
6: A number of white bros who hate Hillary. This goes back to 1993 when right-show talk radio was burgeoning, and liberals were giving them plenty of material to work with. I was a member of this segment back then. I did now, and I still do, wonder why an unelected person was given latitude to draft and pass sweeping healthcare regulations. I and many others felt this was an affront to due political process. Then there’s her unconditional acceptance of Bill’s sexual predation. Ultimately I accept that Hillary is the Democratic standard-bearer, and I’m glad she has now achieved this on her own merits. I think she’s qualified and I endorse her with no reservations. But for people who do see the failed healthcare attempt as an issue, and are primed to see her other flaws as existential, she’s provided them with plenty of ammunition.
7: Cynical rich people. These people care nothing about the governance of the country as long as they’re lining their pockets. They pick and choose legislation with no greater concern than whether it will make them richer. Rich enough for what? Money is a claim on future production. The human lifespan is hard-set at about 110 years, give or take. Yet these hardcore accumulators care only about the accumulation of wealth in excess of what they, their children, or grandchildren could ever use.
You can easily detect my bias in these examples, and I may have taken a couple of cheap rhetorical shots, but these are 7 Trump supporters as best I understand them. Talk amongst yourselves.
“Draft and pass”? I’m not sure you understand how legislation works.